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Page 52 


By and by Sonny noticed something else—something dark like a shadow 


























































/ 

LITTLE 

SONNY SUNFISH 



ELIZABETH GALE 


Pictures by 

GARADA CLARK RILEY 


J 



RAND M9NALLY & COMPANY 


CHICAGO 


NEW YORK 




Copyright, 192 3, by 
Rand McNally & Company 


/ 




MADE IN U. S. A. 


JUL 27 *23 


C1A711302 




CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Here Comes the Boy.7 

Sonny Learns to Be Polite. 16 

The Tadpole Graduates. 24 

Sonny Gives a Party. 34 

Follow Your Leader. 41 

Sonny Forgets. 50 

Another Surprise for Sonny. 58 



















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One day Sonny was catching flies 













































































LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


HERE COMES THE BOY 


Maybe you like jelly cake, perhaps you’re fond of pies, 
But little Sonny Sunfish would rather eat plain flies. 


ITTLE SONNY SUNFISH lives in Pleasant Pond. 



A— 1 He spends most of his time near the Mossy Rock, 
because down underneath it is a cool, safe hiding place and 
all about it there is shallow water and a nice sandy bottom. 
And, besides that, he can usually find good things to eat 
near by. 

“ If you hunted all the world over, you couldn't find a 
better place to live," he often says. 

One day Sonny was catching flies. He would lie very 
quietly in the still water beside the Mossy Rock until he 
saw one coming close enough, and then, like a flash, he 
would swim up and catch it. He had caught five small 
ones and three middle-sized ones when a big fat fly came 
sailing by. 

“Oh-h!" said Sonny. “Isn't he nice? I’ll have him 
for dessert." 

Nearer and nearer and nearer came the fly, but Sonny lay 
there very still. He wanted to be quite sure of catching 
this one, so he waited until it was almost over his head, 


7 


8 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


and then, just as he started forward to get it, who should 
dart around the comer of the Mossy Rock but Peter Perch. 

“Sonny!” cried Peter. “There’s a boy on the Pond!” 

“ What? ” asked Sonny. His mouth was open all ready 
to catch the fly, so it was an easy word to say. 

“ A boy,” said Peter. 

“ What is that? ” asked Sonny. 

“ Don’t know,” said Peter. “ Mr. Frog was in too much 
of a hurry to tell me. I saw Mr. Frog just now as I 
came swimming past the Long Log, and he called out and 
told me about it. Then he jumped up on the bank and 
hopped away as fast as he could go. ‘ There is a boy on 
the Pond,’ he said. ‘ Look out for him.’ So let’s look.” 

“All right,” said Sonny, and they started off. But 
they had not gone very far when Sonny asked, “Did 
Mr. Frog say on the Pond or in it? ” 

“ He said on it,” answered Peter. 

“Then he must be a sort of water spider,” said Sonny, 
“ for only water spiders swim on the Pond.” 

“ Maybe he is like a dragon fly or a wasp. They some¬ 
times come down on the water,” said Peter. 

You see, both he and Sonny were very young fishes and 
had never even heard of a boy before. But they were 
eager to see one, so they swam on down the Pond, keeping 
a sharp watch on the water overhead so as not to miss 
anything that came by. Down past the Shady Cove they 


HERE COMES THE BOY 


9 



Plop! s-splash! something struck the water not six feet away from them 


went and past the Grassy Point, along the Shore Where 
the Pine Trees Grow, right down to Turtle’s Rock. But 
they saw no sign of anything new or strange. 

“Perhaps he has gone away again,” said Sonny. 

“Oh, I hope not!” cried Peter. “I’d love to see a boy.” 

And then, plop! s-splash! something struck the water 
not six feet away from them, and in a twinkling the two 
little fishes had hidden in the shadow of the rock. 

“Ha-ha!” laughed a soft voice behind them. “Scared 
you that time, didn’t I?” 

They looked around, and there was Mr. Turtle. 







10 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


“I jumped off my rock into the water,” Mr. Turtle 
explained. “ I had a nice sun bath, and now I thought I 
would take a water bath. Sorry I frightened you.” 

“We are not frightened,” said Sonny, “just surprised.” 

“Well,” said Mr. Turtle, “I was surprised, too. I 
wasn’t expecting a call from you this morning. How are 
things up your way?” 

“There is a boy on the Pond,” said Peter, eager to tell 
the news. 

“A boy!” cried Mr. Turtle. 

“Yes,” said Peter. “Mr. Frog told me about it.” 

“Did you ever see one?” asked Sonny, but Mr. Turtle 
never answered him. 

“Goodne&§, gracious, mercy me!” he cried. “Can it 
really, truly be?” And just as fast as he could paddle he 
started for shore. 

“Where is he? What is he like? Can he swim? Can 
he fly ? ” The two little fishes followed him asking as many 
questions as they could think of, but the turtle never 
answered one, for he is very heavy, you know, and when 
he swims he has no breath left for anything else. 

Peter and Sonny followed him to the bank, and then, 
of course, they had to stop, but Mr. Turtle climbed up and 
as quickly as he could crawled away. 

“Isn’t that a shame!” said Sonny as he watched him go. 
“I don’t see why he couldn’t stop and talk a minute.” 


HERE COMES THE BOY 


11 


“I don’t believe the boy is on the Pond at all,” said 
Peter. “ I believe he is on the shore, for both Mr. Frog and 
Mr. Turtle went there to look for him.” 

“I wish I could walk on dry land and then I could go 
there to look for him, too,” said Sonny. “I wish I were a 
frog or a turtle.” 

“I don’t!” cried Peter. “I’d rather be a fish and swim 
faster than any other fish in the Pond.” 

“You can’t swim faster than I can,” said Sonny quickly. 

“Let’s race,” said Peter. 

“All right,” said Sonny. “I’ll beat you back to Grassy 
Point.” 

So off they started as swift and straight as two little 
arrows. They were both fast swimmers, but this time the 
perch swam faster than the sunfish, and so he won the race. 
But Sonny wanted to race again, for he knew he could beat 
Peter Perch if he tried hard enough. So as soon as he 
caught up with him he said, “ I ’ll beat you back to the other 
end of Shady Cove.” 

But, before they could get well started, just ahead of 
them there was a great big s-splash! and they stopped 
stock still. 

“Mr. Turtle!” cried Peter as they saw something dark 
slip down through the water. 

“But he couldn’t jump so far from shore,” said Sonny. 
“Where did he come from?” 


12 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


“Let’s ask him,” said Peter. 

They hurried over to the dark thing which had settled 
on the bottom now, and there it wasn’t Mr. Turtle at all. 
It was a stone! But where had that come from? A stone 
cannot jump, swim, or walk. They were very young 
fishes, but they knew that much. 

Sonny came to the top of the water and looked all 
around. 

For a moment he was too surprised to speak, and then 
he called, “Peter! Peter! Come! Look!” 

Peter came and looked, and on the shore of the Pond he 
saw something he had never seen before. 

“Wh-hat can it be?” he stammered. 

“Isn’t it funny?” laughed Sonny. “It has fur on its 
head just like Mr. Muskrat’s coat.” 

A thin red streak passed through the water in front of 
them. “It is a boy,” said a sharp little voice, and there 
was Sally Salamander. Sally could walk on dry land, and 
so she knew about a great many things that the two little 
fishes had never seen. 

“A boy!” cried Sonny and Peter together. “Oh, I 
didn’t think he’d be like that!” 

“Yes, that’s what he’s like and that’s what he is,” said 
Sally. “Didn’t you ever see a boy before?” 

“No,” said Sonny, “and I never heard one either. What 
a queer noise he makes!” 


HERE COMES THE BOY 


13 



Peter Perch saw something on the shore of the pond that he had never seen before 


“He is whistling,” explained Sally. “But that is only 
one of his noises. He can make more different kinds of 
noise than anything else on earth.” 

“And what is he doing now?” asked Peter. 

“He is picking up stones,” squeaked Sally sharply, “and 
in a minute he'll throw them. We'd better get down to 
the bottom.” And she sank down out of sight. 


























14 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


But Sonny and Peter wanted to see more of the boy, so 
they stayed to watch him until, whiz! s-splash! plop! the 
stones flew out over the water. One of them almost hit 
Sonny on the nose. 

He started to swim, but he didn't know which way to 
go, for the stones seemed to be raining down all around him. 
First he swam north, and then he swam east, and then he 
swam south, and then he turned around and swam north 
again, and there at last he saw an opening. 

“Come on, Peter!" he called, and away he went faster 
than he had ever gone in his life before, up through the 
Shady Cove and straight back to the Mossy Rock, because 
under its overhanging sides was a cool, safe hiding place. 

“Whew!" he gasped as he slid quickly down to the 
deepest, safest spot. “Wasn’t I lucky to get away! And, 
oh, Peter, I beat you that time!" 

But there was no answer, for Peter was not there. 

Sonny rested for a while in the cool shadow of the rock, 
and then he came out to look for him. But as far back 
as he could see through the water there was no sign of his 
little friend. There were some flies, though, buzzing over 
the Pond just a few feet away, and now he remembered 
the one he was trying to catch when Peter came and told 
him about the boy. 

“Oh," he thought, “how hungry I am!" And he started 
slowly, carefully toward the flies. “I’ll catch that little 


HERE COMES THE BOY 


15 


one first,” he thought, and he was just getting ready to 
spring for it when around the comer of the Mossy Rock 
came Peter Perch again. 

“Hello!” cried Peter. “So you escaped?” 

“Of course I did,” said Sonny. “I left before you did. 
Didn’t you hear me calling you?” 

“No,” answered Peter, “I couldn’t hear anything but 
the thump and splash of those stones.” 

For a while neither of them spoke. They just lay there 
thinking about all that had happened that morning. 

“Well,” said Peter at last, “how do you like the boy?” 

“Well,” said Sonny, with a funny little sunfish grin, “I 
think I like flies better. Come on, let’s catch some.” 

So Sonny Sunfish and Peter Perch began to catch flies, 
but they stayed close beside the Mossy Rock. And every 
time they heard a strange noise or saw some passing shadow, 
“Here comes the boy!” one of them would cry, and they 
would swim down quickly to a safe hiding place and wait 
until they were sure that it was not the boy, after all. 

“Dear me!” said Peter one time as they hurried to hide 
away, “we don’t have a minute’s peace. I wish that boy 
would go home.” 

“Oh, I don’t,” said Sonny. “I’d like to see him again, 
but I do wish he would stop throwing stones.” 


SONNY LEARNS TO BE POLITE 

When we’re at home or visiting, 

If dessert is just bananas, 

Or bread and jam, or good ice cream, 

Let’s always mind our manners. 

S ONNY SUNFISH was resting beside the Mossy 
Rock. It was a very quiet afternoon. Not even 
a ripple stirred on Pleasant Pond. 

“Dear me,” yawned Sonny, “such a slow, sleepy day! 
How I wish something would happen!” 

And then he listened. Something was happening. From 
down the Pond came a queer mixed sound. S-swish— 
squeek—s-swish! It was not the stroke of the fish hawk's 
wing, and it was not the sound of the wind through the 
trees, for there was no wind, not even a tiny breeze. 
Squeek—s-swish! Squeek—s-swish! 

“What can it be?” thought Sonny, and he was just 
about to start down the Pond to find out when along came 
Peter Perch. 

“Hello!” called Sonny. But Peter was going so fast 
that he slipped by before he could stop himself. “What is 
making all that noise?” called Sonny, swimming after him. 

“I —I don't know,” answered Peter. “I didn’t stop 
to look.” He was all out of breath from swimming so fast, 
and his eyes were as big as moons. “Let's hide,” he said. 

16 


SONNY LEARNS TO BE POLITE 


17 



Over near the shore Sonny saw something long and low and strange looking 


But Sonny did not want to hide—no indeed. 

“ I am going back,” he said. “ I want to see what it is.” 

So he started down the Pond, and after a minute Peter 
followed him. 

“Be careful,” he warned. “Don’t go too close.” 

Sonny meant to be careful. Very quietly he swam down 
to the Sunken Stump and peeked around it into the cove. 
The noise had stopped now, but over near the shore he saw 
something long and low and strange looking. 

“There it is,” he whispered. “See?” 












18 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


“Oh—h!” said Peter, swimming up and looking over 
Sonny’s shoulder. “Isn’t he a big one?” 

“Yes,” said Sonny, “he must be the biggest fish in all 
the world.” 

“Tee-hee! Tee-hee!” giggled some one just behind 
them, and there was Sally Salamander. “That is not a 
fish, that is a boat,” she said, “and the boy is in it.” 

She had scarcely said the words when, s-splash! over 
the stem of the boat came a great big stone. 

Sally and the two little fishes darted off, but they had not 
gone far when Sally called to Sonny and Peter. 

“He won’t do it again,” she told them. “I remember 
all about it now. He uses the stone to keep from drifting 
away. He calls it an anchor. Come back and I will show 
you around the boat and tell you all about it.” 

So they all went back to the boat and Sally swam down 
under it. 

“Come,” she called, “it is nice and cool down here, and 
Peter will like it.” 

But Peter backed away. 

“What is that noise?” he asked. 

“It is just the boy moving around in the boat,” said 
Sally. “Come on, it’s all right.” 

So Sonny followed Sally, but Peter would not go until 
the noise had stopped and the Pond was just as quiet as it 
had been before the boat had come. 



S-splash! over the stern of the boat came a great big stone 


















































20 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


Sally showed them the anchor rope and the rudder and 
told them how the boy rowed the boat. Then they heard 
a gentle plop! and they all turned quickly and saw a lump 
of something sink slowly down through the water. 

“Ah-h!” said Sally. "Worms! Um-m! M 

Just as if they wanted to be eaten, the worms floated 
under the boat. 

"What are worms?” asked Sonny. 

"Where did they come from?” asked Peter. 

But Sally had begun to nibble at them, and she was too 
busy to answer questions. 

"See them wriggle,” said Sonny. 

"Sally seems to like them. I wonder what they taste 
like,” said Peter. 

"Why don't you taste them and see?” asked Sonny. 

"Why don't you?” replied Peter. 

"Perhaps I shall,” said Sonny, and he edged up closer 
to the worms. 

Peter edged up closer, too, and then they both stopped. 
Sally was eating as fast as she could, taking quick, tiny 
little nibbles. 

"Go ahead,” said Peter, nudging Sonny with his fin, 
"take a bite.” 

Sonny came nearer and nearer. He took a tiny little 
bite and then three quick nibbles. He had never tasted 
anything quite so good in his life. Why, he'd like to 


SONNY LEARNS TO BE POLITE 


21 



swallow it all in one great mouthful! But here came 
Peter Perch with his mouth open, too, looking as if he'd 
like to do the same thing. But Sonny was nearer than 
Peter. He was a little bit quicker, too, and before Peter 
could so much as get a nibble Sonny had the whole thing 
in his mouth. And then, zip! there was a sudden jerk and 
up he flew through the water, up, up, up, through the clear, 
bright air until he could look right down into the boat, 
and there on the seat beside the boy he saw a whole can 















22 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


full of worms. But Sonny didn't want any. Oh, dear, 
no! He only wanted to get back into the water — into 
the cool, wet, comfortable water with Peter and Sally. 

He squirmed and twisted and turned, but something 
held him fast. 

“Let me go!" he cried. “Wow! Wow!! W T ow!!!" 

He opened his mouth very wide when he said the last 
wow , something hard and sharp slipped out, and back he 
fell into the water. Oh, how good it was! How cool and 
wet and nice! With a quick twist of his tail he shot down 
under the boat. 

“Gracious me!" said Peter. “Where have you been?" 

“He has been caught by the boy," said Sally sharply. 
“He was so greedy that he tried to swallow all of the worms 
at once." 

“Something hard caught in my mouth," said Sonny, 
trying to excuse himself. 

“Of course," said Sally, “that was the hook. Every 
bunch of worms has a hook in the middle of it, but unless 
you are greedy you will never be caught on it. Bad 
manners always get people into trouble. I’ll show you 
how to be dainty and polite. Watch me eat." 

The worms had come down over the side of the boat 
again and Sally began to nibble at them, but neither 
Sonny nor Peter stopped to watch her. They started 
back to the Mossy Rock, and they had not gone very far 


SONNY LEARNS TO BE POLITE 


23 



Peter Perch and Sonny Sunfish always stop just a little way from the worms 


when Sonny said, “Sally is right, Peter. After this I am 
going to be very polite. I’ll always let you have the 
first bite.” 

“Oh, no,” said Peter quickly. “ I am going to have good 
manners, too. Whenever there are worms around, I am 
always going to let you eat first.” 

And now if you watch them some day when you are 
fishing, you will see Peter Perch and Sonny Sunfish stop 
just a little way from the worms, each waiting for the 
other to taste them first. But if they ever should forget 
their manners, that's the time you are going to catch 
them. And if this should happen while they are still 
very young fishes, you'd better put them back into the 
water again, for fishes, you know, are not ready to be eaten 
until they are quite grown up. 















THE TADPOLE GRADUATES 


In this wonderful, beautiful world of ours 
There are so many things to do! 

There are lots and lots of things to play, 
And then there is work for us, too. 


W HEN it rains it is dark down under the water in the 
Shady Cove—not black dark like the night time, but 
a soft, green darkness. Peter Perch and Sonny Sunfish 
could see each other very well as they lay there talking, 
but they didn’t see Sally Salamander as she came walking 
along the bottom of the cove. Even after she spoke to 
them they had to look twice before they found her. 
“What are you two doing?” she called. 

Sonny looked up and down and all around until he saw 
her clinging to a stone almost under him, and then he 
said, “We are watching for the boy.” 

“ We thought he might feed us some worms,” added Peter. 
“The boy never comes out when it rains,” said Sally. 
“He doesn’t like to get wet. Queer, isn’t it, how some 
people feel about water? You won’t see the boy today.” 

“Dear me!” sighed Sonny. “Isn’t that too bad? I 
am so hungry I am nearly starved.” 

“And so am I!” cried Peter Perch. “I haven’t caught 
a fly today, and I haven’t found much else to eat, either.” 
“Well,” said Sally, “ I’m hungry, too, so I’m going up on 

24 


THE TADPOLE GRADUATES 


25 


shore to see if I can find anything to eat. Sorry you can't 
come along. Good-by." And Sally crawled away. 

“I wish — " began Peter, when Sonny stopped him. 

“Listen!" he said. “There is old Mr. Frog calling. 
What can be the matter? I have never heard him in the 
daytime before. He usually calls at night so that people 
will know where the Pond is and not walk into it." 

“Yes," agreed Peter, “but then he says, ‘Go round! 
Go round! You’d better go round!’ He isn’t saying 
that now." 

The two little fishes listened again, and soon they heard 
the words quite clearly. “Come on! Come on! You’d 
better come on!" Mr. Frog was calling. 

“Let’s go and see what he wants," said Sonny. And, 
forgetting all about how hungry they were, off they went 
to see what Mr. Frog wanted. 

They swam straight for the Long Log which lies among 
the lily pads, for that is where Mr. Frog spends most of 
his time. And when they reached the lily pads they found 
Mr. and Mrs. Black Bass and their son Bennie there. 

“And here comes Mr. Turtle!" cried Sonny as something 
dark and heavy splashed through the water ahead of them. 

Mr. Turtle climbed up on the log beside Mr. Frog and 
sat there. “How do you do, Mr. Turtle?" croaked Mr. 
Frog. “Glad to see you." And then he went right on 
calling, “You’d better come on! Come on! Come on!" 


26 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


“ There comes Mr. Catfish,” whispered Sonny. 

“And a whole lot of little catfish,” said Peter. 

“And here is Mr. Crawfish,” said Sonny. “Why, 
everyone in the Pond is coming V 9 

They looked around, and from all directions they could 
see the Pond folk, big and little, hurrying to see what 
Mr. Frog was calling for. Even Sally got there after a 
while. Everyone came but the Terrible Pike. The others 
were all glad that he stayed away, because he will swallow 
anything small enough to go into his mouth, and, since 
his mouth grows bigger every year, no fish is ever quite 
sure that he is too big to be swallowed by him. 

“Why didn't you wait for me?” complained Sally as 
she pushed her way through the crowd among the lily 
pads and came up to Peter and Sonny. 

“Didn't know you wanted to come,” said Sonny, mov¬ 
ing over to make room for her. “Oh-h, look! Who is 
this?” 

“It is Mr. Muskrat,” whispered Sally, lifting her head 
up out of the water so that she could get a better look at 
him. “Something very important is going to happen or 
he wouldn't be here.” 

Mr. Muskrat climbed up on the log beside Mr. Frog 
and Mr. Turtle, and Mr. Frog croaked a welcome. Then 
he went right on calling as loud as he could, “Come on! 
Come on! You'd better come on!” 



4 

Everyone came but the Terrible Pike 






























































28 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


The Pond folk were coming on as fast as they could, so, 
by and by, Mr. Frog hopped over to Mr. Muskrat and 
Mr. Turtle and croaked to them in a low voice. They all 
looked down through the water and nodded their heads as 
much as to say, “Yes, it’s all right now. Everyone has 
come but the Terrible Pike, so we can go ahead.” And 
then Mr. Frog straightened up, cleared his throat, and began. 

“Friends and relatives,” he said, “I have called you 
together today to see my grandson, Freddie, graduate.” 

“Graduate!” whispered Peter. “What is that?” 

“Hush!” said Sonny. “Listen!” 

“He will graduate from the tadpole class into the frog 
class,” Mr. Frog went on, “and then he will not only be 
able to swim in the water, but he will walk on dry land, 
jump, hop, dive, and be a really, truly frog. Come, Freddie.” 

Up from a lily pad behind the log jumped Freddie Frog. 

“Oh!” cried Sonny. 

“Gracious!” gasped Sally. 

“Whew-w!” whistled Peter. 

It was some time since they had seen Freddie, and if 
they had met him in the middle of the Pond they never 
would have known him. When they had seen him last 
his coat was a smooth, dark brown. Now it was a light, 
bright green with dark green stripes and spots all over it. 
And, besides that, his pointed tail was gone —every single 
bit of it! 


THE TADPOLE GRADUATES 


29 


There was a great fluttering of fins and tails among the 
lily pads. Everyone whispered and stared and tried to 
get a better look until Mr. Frog spoke again, and then it 
was suddenly quiet. 

“Now,” he said, “Freddie will begin to graduate.” 

It had stopped raining. A soft breeze was blowing from 
the shore, and with it came three flies right toward the 
Long Log where Freddie sat. He sat up straight, his eyes 
as bright as buttons, and then, one! two! three! out went 
his little tongue and the flies were gone. No one but Mr. 
Frog himself could have done it more quickly or better. 

Then Freddie was told to give the frogs' danger signal, 
and he gave it—not a very loud one, but everyone who 
knew the signal could easily tell what he meant. And 
then he was told to dive, and he did it quickly and very 
well. 

“And now,” said Mr. Frog, “comes the last and hardest 
thing to do. Freddie will jump to shore and when he 
gets there he will show us how well he can walk.” 

Sonny and Peter and Sally swam up closer to the log 
as Freddie hopped out to the end of it. It was a long 
way from the log to the shore. Why, even old Mr. Frog 
himself could not jump that far! 

“He'll never do it!” cried Sonny. 

“Never,” agreed Peter. 

“Of course he won't,” said Sally. 


30 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 



Up sprang Freddie like a little green flash 


Everyone was watching. Freddie was all ready to 
jump, and he was smiling as if he was going to have the 
greatest fun in his life doing it. 

“Now!” croaked Mr. Frog. 

Up sprang Freddie like a little green flash, but the next 
minute, down he went on the water not three feet away. 

“Ha-ha!” laughed somebody from the crowd. “What 
a jump! I could do better than that myself.” 

Freddie looked ready to cry. He began to splash and 
splutter and was all ready to dive down out of sight, but 
Mr. Frog and Mr. Turtle and Mr. Muskrat called him 
back to the log and were very kind and gentle with him. 

















THE TADPOLE GRADUATES 


31 


“That was a good first jump,” said Mr. Turtle. 

“Fine for a little frog,” said Mr. Muskrat. 

“Splendid!” said Mr. Frog. “But you tried to do too 
much at once. One jump at a time—that is the way to 
go—from one lily pad to the other until you reach the 
shore. Now try it again.” 

So Freddie started off again, carefully this time. He 
took a little jump to the nearest lily pad, and then a little 
bigger one to the next, and then a still bigger one to the 
next, and so on until he reached the shore and hopped about 
there to show how well he could walk on dry land. He 
did so well that everyone croaked or splashed or called, 
“Hooray!” Then he jumped back again to the log, and his 
grandfather made a speech, saying that Freddie was a 
really, truly frog now and ready to do a frog’s work. You 
know what a frog’s work is, don’t you? It is to catch as 
many mosquitoes and flies and things of that sort as he can. 

And then the strangest thing of all happened. Just as 
Freddie jumped back to the log, over the Pond flew a flock 
of crows. “Caw! Caw!” they called as they came. “Catch 
what we give you! Catch what we give you! ” And down 
among the lily pads fell something that tasted almost as 
good as worms. It was meat—sun baked meat—that the 
crows had found in the Sunny Field. 

Sonny and Peter darted here and there picking up all 
the little pieces that fell into the water near them, but 


32 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 



Over the pond flew a flock of crows 


Sally found one large piece which caught in a half-open 
lily bud, so she climbed up on the stalk of the flower and 
began to nibble away. There was no danger of anyone 
else coming up and taking a bite, so she could eat it all as 
slowly as she wished. She was still busy when Mr. Frog 
called out, “The party is over and it is time to go on. ,, 

Mr. Muskrat and Mr. Turtle said good-by, slid off the 
log into the water, and started for home. But all the fishes 
waited around for a while to see if there was not going 







THE TADPOLE GRADUATES 


33 


to be something more to eat. So Mr. Frog had to keep 
calling to them, “You'd better go on, go on, go on!” 
because it was against the rules of the Pond for so many 
fishes to stay in one place like that for so long. 

“It is not a good plan to stay too long after a party is 
over,” said Mr. Turtle as he passed Sonny and Peter. 
“If I were in your place, I’d do as Mr. Frog says.” 

So the two little fishes started slowly back to the Mossy 
Rock. They had had such a good time that they did not 
like to leave, but of course they knew it was best. But long 
after they reached the Mossy Rock they heard Mr. Frog 
still calling, “You'd better go on, go on, go on!” 

“I wonder who it is that won't go home,” said Sonny. 

“Perhaps it is Sally,” said Peter. “She eats so slowly 
that maybe she hasn't finished yet.” 

They found out the next day that it wasn’t Sally after 
all. It was Mr. Snail. He crawled out on a lily pad and 
went to sleep, and they had the hardest time to wake him! 

For the next few days Sonny and Sally and Peter could 
talk of nothing else but Mr. Frog's party. 

“Didn't we have a good time?” Sally would say. 

“A fine time!” Peter would answer. 

And then Sonny would add, “Some day I am going to 
have a party. ” 

And he did. He had a party very much sooner than he 
expected to. 


SONNY GIVES A PARTY 

It’s nice, sometimes, to read alone, 

Or play with brother Marty, 

And then again it’s nice to have 
A jolly little party. 

S -SWISH—SQUEEK! S-swish—squeek! 

Sonny Sunfish was up near the Sandy Beach and Peter 
Perch was down below the Grassy Point when the noise 
began, but at the same instant they both started for the 
Shady Cove. S-swish—squeek! That is the noise the boy 
makes when he rows his boat, and they both knew the 
minute they heard it that he was going to the Shady Cove, 
because that was where he always had gone every day when 
he had come out rowing in his boat. He would find a cool, 
pleasant spot and fix his boat there so that it would not 
drift away, and then he would fasten some nice juicy worms 
to a string and drop them down through the water for Sonny 
and Peter to eat. At least, that was what he always had 
done, and, oh, how good those worms were! The two little 
fishes thought they could never, never get enough of them. 

Sonny reached the Shady Cove first, but it was not long 
before Peter was there, too. 

“ Til watch the shore side and you watch the other side, 
and we'll see the worms the minute they touch the water," 
said Sonny as he and Peter slid down under the boat. 


34 













































36 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


But they waited a long, long time and no worms came. 

“ What can be the matter? ” cried Sonny at last, swimming 
out to look around. 

“Perhaps he has nothing for us today,” said Peter sadly, 
but he had scarcely said it when over the side of the boat 
came, not one, but two lovely, squirmy bunches of worms — 
one for him and one for Sonny. 

“Um-m!” cried Sonny. “Come!” 

Peter came, and they both began to eat as fast as they 
could. Sonny had taken only two or three nibbles when 
his bunch began to move up slowly through the water. 
Of course Sonny followed it. Up, up he swam, eating as 
he went, and when he was almost at the top of the water 
he saw the boy leaning over the side of the boat watching 
him. Down, down, down came the boy's head, nearer and 
nearer the top of the water. His eyes were just the color of 
the sky, and his hair waved in the wind like the grass along 
the shore. Nearer and nearer he came, and his eyes looked 
bigger and bluer and—Whack! Boom! Bang!! Splash!!! 

The Pond seemed to be turning upside down. Oars and 
boat and boy and water were all mixed up together. 

“He's got me!” thought Sonny. But at the same time 
he started to swim, and he never quite knew how he man¬ 
aged it—in a twinkling he was out of the Cove and going 
down the Pond. Down past the Grassy Point he went, 
past the Shore Where the Pine Trees Grow, right down to 


SONNY GIVES A PARTY 


37 



Nearer and nearer he came — Whack! Boom! Bang!! Splash!!! 

Turtle’s Rock, and even after he reached the rock he could 
hear the boy screaming. 

“ Whew!” he thought. “This is as bad as the time I got 
the hook in my mouth. And, oh-h, I wonder where Peter is! 
I wonder if the boy caught him. I wonder if he got away. 
I wonder if I shall ever see him again.” 

For a long, long time Sonny just lay there and wiggled his 
tail and wondered, and then slowly, very slowly at first, he 
began to swim back up the Pond. Suppose he should never 
see Peter again! Suppose the boy had caught him and 
carried him away! Suppose — But, before he could finish 
supposing, whom should he see lying in the water close 










38 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


to the shore but Peter himself, and with him was Sally 
Salamander. 

“ Hello!” he called as he swam quickly toward them. 
"O Peter, I thought the boy had you that time surely!” 

“ The boy! ” laughed Sally. " The minute he touched the 
water he forgot all about you both, and it will be a long 
while before he thinks of either of you again. He fell over¬ 
board, you know, and you should have seen him try to swim! 
Poor thing! He had a hard time of it. I saw it all from 
the shore. The boat upset, and everything fell out of it.” 

“ Everything? ” thought Sonny, and like a flash he was off. 

When he reached the Shady Cove, the boat, the boy, and 
the oars and all those things were gone, but he swam over 
to where the boat had been and looked around. No, there 
was nothing left. That is, there was nothing floating around 
on the water. Even the two bunches of worms were gone. 

"The boy might have left them,” thought Sonny. 

He was just going to swim back to meet Peter and Sally 
when he glanced down at the bottom, and there he saw 
something round and bright. At first he thought it was a 
new white stone, but when he looked again he saw some¬ 
thing crawling out of it. What could it be? 

Sonny went a little closer, and then a little closer still. 
He could scarcely believe his eyes. Here on the bottom of 
the Cove was, not one or two, but a whole can full of worms! 

"Peter!” he called. "O Peter! Sally! Where are you?” 


SONNY GIVES A PARTY 


39 



Sally and Peter came hurrying to see what Sonny wanted 


Sally and Peter were not very far away, and they came 
hurrying up to see what Sonny wanted. 

“We could have a party,” he called, “if only Bennie 
Bass and Polly Pickerel and all the rest were here!” 

“Pll call them for you,” said some one just overhead, 
and, looking up, Sonny saw the Dragon Fly. 

“Oh, I wish you would!” said Sonny. “Call all of the 
young people in the pond.” 

So off the Dragon Fly flew over the top of the Pond, and 
it was not long before the guests began to come. As soon 
as they came they began to eat, for it was a dinner party, 
you know, and that is what they came for. And what a 
good time they all had! That is, all but little Polly Pickerel. 









40 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


She was too shy to join the rest, and she didn't like worms 
anyway, so she hid among the reeds along the shore and 
watched the others. 

Crawly Crawfish didn’t like worms, either, but he did 
like to crawl into dark, narrow places. So every time he 
had a chance he crawled into the can, and then, as soon as 
some one saw him, that person would come along and pull 
him out by the tail. But Crawly would soon be back. 
He thought it great fun to see how long he could stay in 
the can before anyone caught him, and the fishes thought 
it great fun to pull him out, so they all had a jolly time. 

After a while, when the worms were all eaten and the 
dinner was all over, they played a game which they called 
“ Catch the Crawfish. ” Crawly would hide away, either in 
the can or under one of the stones, and then they would see 
who could find him first. They played this until the sun 
went down and they heard old Mr. Frog begin to call, 
“Come on! Come on! You’d better come on!’’ and then 
they knew that it was time to go home. 

“Didn’t we have a good time?” said Sally as she and 
Peter and Sonny watched the others go. 

“ Didn’t we! ” exclaimed Peter. “ But then we always do. 
A fish can always have a lot of fun.” 

“We have more fun than ever since the boy came,” said 
Sonny. “Wouldn’t it be nice if he’d always feed us worms 
in cans! They are so much nicer than worms on hooks.” 


FOLLOW YOUR LEADER 


There's a lot of fun in your own back yard 
Or out in the fields with Joe, 

But there really is no fun at all 
In the place where you shouldn’t go. 


O PETER! Peter Perch!” Sonny Sunfish swam up 
and down and all around the Shady Cove, but not 
a sign could he see of Peter. “O Peter!” he called again. 
But Peter did not answer. 

“Perhaps he has gone down to see Mr. Turtle,” thought 
Sonny. ‘Til go and look for him.” But just as he started 
to swim away Peter darted out from behind a stone. 

“ I was just hiding to tease you, ” laughed Peter. “ I saw 
you all the time. You’re It for a game of tag!” 

“All right,” said Sonny, and, quick as a wink, he was 
after him. In and out among the roots and grasses along 
the shore Peter went and Sonny followed. “You can’t 
catch me!” cried Peter as he dodged and tried to hide. 

But Sonny did catch him. After a while he got him into 
a corner and then he tagged him. 

“And now,” said Sonny, “let’s play Follow Your Leader. 
I’ll be the leader.” 

“All right,” said Peter, and they started off. 

Sonny swam slowly down the shore until he came to the 
Pointed Rock, and then he swam quickly around it three 


41 


42 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


times, and, of course, Peter followed him, because that is 
the way to play the game. 

Then Sonny saw a fly, and he jumped up and tried to 
catch it, but he didn’t get it. So all that Peter had to do 
was to jump up as high as Sonny did. Then they went 
down around the Grassy Point, Sonny first and Peter close 
behind him, and so they came to the Shore Where the Pine 
Trees Grow and Sonny stopped and looked around and 
listened. When he came to the top of the water he could 
just see the top of the house where the boy lived and the 
long dock which ran out over the water in front of it, but 
there was no boy in sight. The Pine Trees were whispering 
to one another, but there was no other sound, so Sonny 
swam right down along the shore, twisting and turning and 
sometimes swimming backward so that Peter would have to 
do it, too. All the while he was trying to think of something 
new and hard to do. 

“If I could only go somewhere or do something so that 
Peter could not follow me, I would win the game, and I 
want to win it so much,” he thought. And just as he was 
thinking this a little breeze came from the shore and went 
rippling out toward the middle of the Pond. 

“ I ’ll beat the ripples! ” cried Sonny, and off he went with 
Peter close behind him. Sonny beat the ripples, and Peter 
did, too. They swam far out ahead of them, so far that 
when they stopped and looked down they found that they 





.'•v. 




mm m 


• r;cV: v ' f A'\\ 






' :s 


Ci 


~^o«/.;:v.> 


mmmm 


Then Sonny saw a fly, and he jumped up and tried to catch it 





























44 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


were swimming over the deepest part of the pond , a place 
where no little fish is supposed to go. Beneath them they 
could see nothing but deep, dark water — water so deep they 
could not see the bottom. If Sonny had been wise, he would 
have started right back for shore, but he wanted so much 
to win the game that he stayed a moment and looked 
around and wondered if there was not something that he 
could do out here that Peter would not dare to do after him. 
As he was wondering this, Peter moved up close beside 
him. 

“That is where the Terrible Pike lives, 'way down there,” 
whispered Peter. “Let’s go home.” And he shuddered. 

“The Terrible Pike!” thought Sonny. “Now if I make 
believe that I am going to call on him, Peter will be afraid 
to follow me and I shall win the game.” Of course he didn ’t 
want to see Mr. Pike any more than Peter did, because he 
knew just as well as anyone on the Pond just how terrible 
he was, but he said aloud, “Let’s go call on him.” 

“Oh, no!” cried Peter, backing away. “The Terrible 
Pike would eat us. ” 

“I shouldn’t mind at all!” laughed Sonny. “Come on, 
follow your leader!” And down he went. 

“O Sonny, don’t!” cried Peter. 

But foolish Sonny went right on, and Peter followed him. 
Sonny kept looking around, hoping every minute that Peter 
would go back and then he would follow him and win the 


FOLLOW YOUR LEADER 


45 



“/ see a stick down there and I am going to swim down and touch it,” said Sonny 


game. But Peter didn't go back. He kept close behind 
Sonny because he thought he could coax him to come back. 

The water grew darker and darker and colder and colder, 
and Peter kept whispering, “Oh, don't go any farther, 
Sonny! Please come home." But Sonny wouldn't. He 
went right on, and finally they were down so deep that he 
thought he saw the bottom. 

“ I see a stick down there and I am going to swim down 
and touch it," he said. And then he thought he saw the 
stick move, and he waited a moment to watch. Peter was 
close beside him now, watching, too, because he thought 
he saw the stick begin to move. 





46 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


Everything was very quiet. All around them was the 
cold, dark greenness of the deep water. Peter moved up 
closer still. “Don't you think we'd b-b-better go home?" 
he asked. 

Sonny did not answer. He was too busy watching that 
thing on the bottom, and, oh! it was not a stick at all, it 
was the Terrible Pike! And the Terrible Pike saw them. 
His great big eyes were watching them, and his great big 
mouth was beginning to open, and he was getting all ready 
to swallow them down. 

For a minute Sonny could not speak, and then he whis¬ 
pered, “ Peter, you start first. He will try hardest to get 
you, so get as far ahead of me as you can. I have such hard, 
sharp fins on my back that he will not eat me if he can find 
anything softer. Look! He is moving again. O Peter, go!" 

Peter went. He went so fast that a moment later when 
Sonny started after him he looked like a tiny blur in the 
water. He was so far away that the Pike never gave him a 
second thought. He made a dash for Sonny and missed 
him by just an inch, and then he turned around and started 
for him again, but by this time Sonny was swimming 
straight and fast for shore. But the Pike could swim faster 
than Sonny, and in less than a minute his big mouth 
was open again all ready to swallow the little sunfish. Once 
more Sonny made a quick turn and slid out of his way. 

“You wretched little thing!" cried the Terrible Pike. 


FOLLOW YOUR LEADER 


47 


“ I ’ll get you next time!” You see he was hungry, and he 
didn’t like to have his dinner slip away from him like that. 

“Dear me!” thought Sonny. “If there were only some 
reeds or stones or something like that to hide among! ” But 
there was nothing in sight but deep, dark water. 

Sonny kept swimming and dodging and turning as fast 
as he could. The Pike could swim faster than he could, but 
could not turn so quickly, so just as soon as the Pike came 
near him Sonny would make a quick turn, dodge out of his 
way, and swim in another direction. But always the Pike 
was close behind him. Once he touched the tip of his tail. 

“Oh, don’t eat me!” cried Sonny. “I have hard, sharp 
fins on my back.” 

“I don’t care what you have on your back,” snapped the 
Pike. “ I am going to swallow you whole.” 

“Dear me! It’s no use!” thought Sonny. “He’ll have 
me in a minute.” He could hear the Terrible Pike splashing 
and dashing through the water behind him. “ I ’ll never see 
Peter again, ” he thought. “ I ’ll never see the Mossy Rock 
or the Shady Cove or—” 

Before he could think of anything else he saw a streak of 
light ahead of him. That meant shallow water and maybe 
something to hide behind. Once more he dodged out of the 
Terrible Pike’s way. He was not going to give up yet. 
With all his might he swam toward the light, and in another 
minute he reached a place near shore where there were a lot 


48 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 



of stones so close together that a big pike could not possibly 
push his way between them but a little sunfish could easily 
slip in and hide. 

“I’ve-got you now!” shouted the Terrible Pike, and 
Sonny heard him open his mouth. Quicker than he had ever 
moved before he slipped in between the two nearest stones, 
and then, “Ugh!” he heard the Pike say as he shut his 
mouth again and found nothing in it but water. 

Well, the Pike splashed around in the water and shouted 
and called and tried to push his way in after Sonny, but he 
couldn’t do that, and of course he couldn’t make him come 
out, so, after a while, he grew tired and went back home. 
But it was a long, long time before Sonny went home. He 








FOLLOW YOUR LEADER 


49 


lay there and waited and listened until he was sure the 
Terrible Pike did not mean to come back again. Then he 
looked out and saw that he was in a strange part of the 
Pond. Instead of trees and grass and reeds along the shore, 
there were great high rocks that he had never seen before. 

“ I am lost,” he thought. “ How shall I ever find my way 
back to the Mossy Rock?” And then he heard Mr. Frog 
begin to sing his evening song. “Go round! Go round! 
You’d better go round!” he called. 

“That is a good idea,” thought Sonny. “ I ’ll swim right 
round the edge of the Pond and then, of course, sooner or 
later I shall come to the Mossy Rock.” 

And so he started off. It was a long swim, but after a 
while he came to the Big Dock. He had been there only 
once before, but when he saw it he knew where he was. 
After he passed the Big Dock he came to the Sandy Beach, 
and then, of course, he was nearly home. 

Peter Perch was waiting for him. He rushed out to meet 
him and took him back to the Mossy Rock, and while they 
ate supper together he asked so many questions that Sonny 
never finished answering them until midnight. 

“Let’s never go away from home again,” said Peter as 
he cuddled up close to his little friend. 

“Oh, yes,” said Sonny, “we must go away from home 
sometimes, but we must never again go where we have no 
business to go. That is how we got into trouble.” 


SONNY FORGETS 

I am sure that you know a great many things, 

And, truly, so do I. 

Well, let’s remember all we know 
And learn more by and by. 

O NE day Sonny Sunfish and Peter Perch and Sally 
Salamander were swimming about the Shady Cove 
waiting for the boy to come out in his boat and feed them 
worms, but they waited and waited and he didn’t come. 

“I am so hungry I could eat a water spider,” said Peter 
Perch at last, and he must have been very hungry to say that, 
because water spiders are such stiff, scratchy things to eat. 

“I am so hungry I could swallow a fishhook,” said Sonny 
Sunfish, and he must have been very hungry to say that, 
because he had one in his mouth once and he knew just 
how it felt. 

“ I am so hungry I am going to swim down the Pond and 
see whether I can find the boy,” said Sally Salamander, 
and off she started. 

“I am going, too,” said Peter. 

“And so am I,” said Sonny. “Maybe, if he sees us, he’ll 
think about the worms.” 

So they all swam down the Pond together until they saw 
the long, low dock which stretches out over the water in 
front of the boy’s house. 


ro 


SONNY FORGETS 


51 


“There is the boy now, sitting on the dock,” said Sally, 
sticking her head up out of the water. 

“Maybe he is looking for us,” said Sonny. 

“No,” said Sally, “I think he is looking at something.” 

When they came a little nearer they saw that he was 
looking at Bennie Bass. He was not only looking at him, 
he was feeding him something, small pieces of something 
white and flaky and soft. 

“ Umm-m! ” said Sally when she saw it. “ Bread crumbs! 
Um!” and she hurried forward to get some. 

“Hello, Sonny!” called Bennie Bass. “Hello, Sally and 
Peter! You’re just in time for—” 

But before he could say what they were in time for a 
lovely big crumb fell on the water just above him and he 
jumped up after it. 

“Ah, give it to me!” begged Sally. 

“Save me a bite!” cried Peter Perch. 

“I want it!” cried Sonny, but Bennie had swallowed it 
all before they finished speaking. 

“Give it to us next time,” coaxed the others. But the 
next time four crumbs fell down on the water, one for each of 
them. And after that the boy threw out so many that they 
could not eat them fast enough and some of them fell down 
to the bottom of the Pond. 

“Bread crumbs are just as nice as worms,” said Peter as 
he gulped down a great big mouthful. 


52 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


“They are nicer,” said Sally, “because they never have 
any hooks in them. ,, 

Sonny and Bennie said nothing. They were too busy 
eating. 

For a while Sonny saw only the little flaky crumbs that 
were falling all around him, but by and by he noticed some¬ 
thing else — something dark like a shadow. Sometimes it 
moved slowly toward him, and whenever it did this he swam 
away, but not very far away, because he did not want to 
miss any of the bread crumbs. It was a queer sort of a 
shadow and seemed to follow the bread crumbs, too. Wher¬ 
ever the biggest and nicest ones fell, there it would drift. 
At last the biggest crumb of all fell close beside it. Sonny 
and Sally both started for it, but Sonny could swim so 
much faster than Sally that he had it in his mouth before 
she was halfway there. 

“Don’t eat it!” begged Sally as she paddled toward 
him as fast as she could. “It’s my crumb, I saw it first.” 

The crumb was so big that Sonny could not swallow it 
all at once, but he kept on trying. 

“Greedy!” cried Sally. “Have you forgotten your 
manners?” 

Sonny had forgotten them. He had forgotten about 
everything but that big, flaky bread crumb, but just as he 
gulped the last bit down he remembered the shadow. It 
was too late. Already it had come between him and Sally. 


SONNY FORGETS 


53 



He tried to swim away from it, but it caught his fins and 
held him, and then up it flung him right out of the water. 

He looked down and saw Bennie and Peter and Sally 
staring up at him, and he heard Sally say, “The boy has 
caught Sonny in his scap-net.” And then, instead of water, 
he saw the path beneath him as the boy ran up to the house 
carrying him in the net. “I have caught the sunfish!” 
shouted the boy as he ran. “ I have caught the little sunfish!” 























54 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


When they reached the house, the boy's father and 
mother both came and looked at Sonny and said what a 
fine little sunfish he was, and then the boy filled a bowl with 
water and put Sonny into it. 

Of course Sonny had never heard about a bowl before, 
and the minute he found himself out of the net and in the 
water he started to swim, and bump! went his nose against 
the glass. He turned around and started to swim the other 
way, and bang! he came up against the glass on the other 
side of the bowl. After that he swam about very slowly and 
carefully, and by and by he found that there was glass all 
around him and he could not get out. He didn't like it a 
bit. He didn't like it any more than you would like being 
shut up in a very, very small room. 

But the boy was good to him. He fed him worms and 
bread crumbs and everything he could think of that Sonny 
might like to eat. And at first he kept fresh water in the 
bowl, but after a while he grew careless about it. Some¬ 
times Sonny would not have any fresh water for two whole 
days! After living in the fresh, sweet water of the Pond it 
did not take long for the little bowlful to seem very stale to 
Sonny, and he used to think that he would never in the world 
be able to stand it. Every few minutes he would come up 
to the top for air, but that is not the way a fish likes 
to breathe; he likes to have his fresh air mixed with the 
water. 



Bump! went Sonny's nose against the glass 


) ) > 




































































56 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


Well, things kept growing worse and worse. The boy 
took less and less care of Sonny, and the poor little fish had 
a pretty hard time of it. His bowl was so dirty he could 
scarcely see out of it, and he couldn’t breathe at all unless 
he came to the top of the water. And then, one morning 
when things were at their very worst, the boy and his mother 
and father closed all the windows of the cabin and went out 
and locked the door. Poor little Sonny Sunfish! Here he 
was left all alone in a stale little bowlful of water. 

“What shall I do?” he wailed. “Won’t somebody come 
and help me?” 

He waited and listened, but nobody came, so he turned 
over on his back and was not going to try to breathe any 
more. “It’s no use,” he thought. 

But after a minute he thought again, “ I am not going to 
give up until I must!” That is what he thought this time. 
So he started in to gasp and gulp and try to breathe some 
more, and he hadn’t taken more than two gulps and a gasp 
when the door flew open and the boy rushed in. 

“I forgot my ball!” cried the boy. “Where can it be?” 

The ball lay right beside Sonny’s bowl, and when the boy 
saw it he noticed Sonny, too, as he lay there gasping and 
gulping and trying bravely to get his breath. 

“Poor little fellow!” said the boy. “I haven’t time to 
clean your bowl. Mother and Father are waiting for me. 
What shall I do? I know! I ’ll put him back into the Pond! ” 


SONNY FORGETS 


57 



He picked up the bowl and carried Sonny down to the shore 


He picked up the bowl and carried Sonny down to the 
shore and put him back into the Pond. 

For a minute Sonny just lay still in the fresh cool water. 
He took one, two, three long, deep breaths, and then, swift 
as a golden arrow, he swam back to the Mossy Rock. And 
there in the sunshine he found Peter Perch catching flies. 

“O Peter! I’m back!” cried Sonny. And then he began 
to tell all about what had happened to him. 

But Sonny had not half finished his story when Peter 
interrupted him. “You know how you happened to be 
caught, don't you?” said Peter. “It was because you 
forgot and were greedy again.” 















ANOTHER SURPRISE FOR SONNY 

Isn’t it fun on a summer day 

To jump in the water and swim away — 

To swim away to Turtle’s Rock, 

Then back again to Father’s Dock? 

S ONNY SUNFISH and Peter Perch were swimming side 
by side along the shore of the Pond. It was a clear, 
bright day and the sunbeams Slanted down through the 
water so that they could see the bottom quite plainly, and 
they could see for a long way around them, too. 

“The Terrible Pike could not catch us today, ” said Peter. 
“We could see him far away and have time to hide.” 

“ Yes,” returned Sonny. “ But we are pretty safe any day 
as near shore as this.” Still, he turned around and looked 
in every direction to make sure that Mr. Pike was not there. 

“If he should come and chase us, I’d hide over there 
among the reeds,” said Peter. They were just passing the 
Grassy Point, and the reeds were not very far away. 

“ Yes,” said Sonny, “ that would be a good place if he came 
now, but if he came when we were farther down the shore—” 
Before he could say another word there was a tremendous 
splash! and then a dreadful shrieking and shouting. 

“The Terrible Pike!” cried Peter. “Come!” And he 
darted back among the reeds just as he said he would if 
the Pike should come and chase him, and Sonny followed. 

58 


ANOTHER SURPRISE FOR SONNY 


59 



“Here we are, Sally, hiding among the reeds,” Sonny called 


They swam 'way, 'way back, close up to the shore, and 
there they lay and waited and listened. The shouting and 
the splashing kept right on, but by and by, between the 
shouts, they heard another sound, a sharp, thin little sound: 
“Tee-hee, tee-hee, tee-hee-ee-e-e!” 

They listened more carefully. The sound was coming 
nearer, and after a while they heard something else. 

“ Sonny! Peter! Where are you? ” 

"It's Sally!” cried Sonny, and he swam out to meet her. 
“Here we are, Sally, hiding among the reeds,” he called 
very cautiously. “It's a fine, safe place.” 




















60 


LITTLE SONNY SUN FISH 


“ What are you hiding from?” asked Sally. 

“Why, the Pike,” said Sonny. “Don't you hear him?” 

“Tee-hee, tee-hee, tee-hee!” laughed Sally. “That isn't 
the Pike. Don't you know that?” 

Sonny did know, but he had been too frightened to think. 

“It's only the boy who makes noises like that,” Sally 
went on. “He is trying to swim! Oh, you ought to see 
him. Tee-hee, tee-hee, tee-hee-ee-e-e!” 

She began to laugh again, and she laughed so long and 
hard that she had to lie down on the bottom of the Pond for 
a moment and rest. But as soon as she got her breath she 
was up again. “Let's all go down and watch him,” she 
said. 

It took some coaxing to get the two little fishes started, and 
even then they wanted to turn back time and again, for 
the way that boy screamed and shouted and splashed 
was enough to frighten anyone. But Sally kept telling 
them it was all right and begging them to come on. 

“We’ll go under the dock,” she said. “The boy never 
goes there, and we shall be perfectly safe.” 

So at last she coaxed them down the Pond to the dock, 
and they all slipped under it. 

It was nice and shady and cool here, but Sally was not 
thinking about that. 

“There he is,” she said. “See him trying to swim? Isn't 
it funny? Tee-hee, tee-hee!” 


ANOTHER SURPRISE FOR SONNY 


61 



Sally and Peter and Sonny all slipped under the dock 


Peter Perch looked. When he saw the boy trying to swim 
he laughed, too — not loudly like Sally, but in his own quiet 
way. But when Sonny saw the boy, he didn’t even smile. 

“ Isn’t it too bad? ” he said. “ Isn’t it too bad? Why, he 
can’t really swim at all, he just kicks and splashes.” 

Suddenly the boy stopped swimming. He stood with his 
feet on the bottom of the Pond and he began to make the 
strangest sort of sound. It wasn’t shouting or screaming 
or whistling, it was an altogether different sound. Sonny 
and Peter backed away farther under the dock. 

“Oh, don’t go away!” cried Sally. “It’s all right. He 
just got some water in his mouth, and it makes him cough 






















The hoy had been standing very still, but now the little sunfish 
thought he saw him move 

































ANOTHER SURPRISE FOR SONNY 


63 


and choke like that. Oh, my! Isn’t it funny? Tee-hee, 
tee-hee-hee! ” And she laughed so hard she had to hold fast 
to the post to keep from falling to the bottom of the Pond. 

But Sonny didn’t laugh. Like a little ray of sunshine he 
darted out from under the dock. “ I am going to teach the 
boy to swim!” he cried. 

Sonny swam right in front of the boy, but it was a minute 
or two before the boy saw him, but when he did see him he 
stood very still and watched. 

“See,” said Sonny, “this is the way to do it. It is just as 
easy! You go so, and so, and so.” 

He swam back and forth in front of the boy very slowly a 
few times, and then he went quickly, and then he backed 
and turned and floated. 

“See,” he said, “it is as easy as anything! Don’t kick 
and splash and make such hard work of it. And always— ” 

Why, what was that? Sonny stopped to look. The boy 
had been standing very still, but now the little sunfish 
thought he saw him move. Very slowly and quietly he was 
reaching out his arm toward Sonny. Nearer and nearer 
came the arm, and then there was a quick plunge and splash. 

“O Father!” called the boy. “I nearly caught the little 
sunfish right in my hand!” 

Yes, the boy’s hand had actually touched him! 

“Of all things!” cried Sonny as he shot down under the 
dock. “ Wasn’t that a nice way to treat me? And I was 
trying to teach him to swim and telling him all about it.” 


64 


LITTLE SONNY SUNFISH 


Sonny was nearly crying. He felt hurt that the boy 
should treat him so. He was surprised and frightened, too. 

But Sally wasn’t surprised. 

“Silly!” she said. “The boy couldn’t hear what you 
said. Don’t you know that?” 

“But he could see what I did even if he didn’t hear what 
I said,” answered Sonny. “ He could see me show him how.” 

“But he doesn’t want to swim that way,” laughed Sally. 
“He likes the way he swims. He thinks he is a splendid 
swimmer. That’s what makes it so funny. Tee-hee, tee- 
hee, tee-hee-hee-hee!” 

But Sonny didn’t laugh. He just lay there in the shade 
of the dock and wondered and thought and wondered. And 
then, by and by, he swam back home to the Mossy Rock. 
And almost any day now, if you watched, you could see him 
there, for he spends a great deal of time lying in the water 
beside the Mossy Rock just wiggling his tail and wondering. 
You see— 

Sonny Sunfish wants to know 
If certain things are really so. 

To be a fish is perfect joy, 

Does anyone want to be a boy? 

He wiggles his tail and wonders. 

Whenever the boy attempts to swim, 

Sonny feels very sorry for him. 

To swim like a fish is perfect joy, 

Does anyone want to swim like a boy? 

He wiggles his tail and wonders. 





















JUL 2 8 1924 



library of congress 










































































































